Horror Genre Is Dying: Ghosts Are Not Supposed To Make You Laugh, Right?

Horror movies are a dying genre. Don’t let the commercial success of the Stree and Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchises confuse you. What we have here is horror riding piggyback on comedy or social commentary, not authentic horror that offers goosebump moments packed with anticipation and fear. Missing is the raw, primal emotion that such movies must evoke in the audience.

What was the last horror movie that left you genuinely scared? It’s difficult to recall. The reason is simple: no filmmaker has delivered you real horror. It’s been reduced to a prop for other ideas. Think of Munjya, Bhediya or Stree. All of them are thoroughly enjoyable films, thanks to intelligent writing, yet they are not what bona fide horror movies are supposed to be. Comedy has to win in the end, not the idea of fear.

Horror is not an easy genre to handle. It’s a mind game the filmmaker has to play with the audience, like a game of chess. Surprises have to be well-planned, the build-up has to be off the beaten track and the tricks of scare have to be designed to perfection. When the audience is familiar with what to expect next, it’s a challenge to bring in the unpredictable. How do you manage that? It demands a lot of creative imagination. But our filmmakers have found the safe way out: link it to issues that have social weight.

It doesn’t work if you are honest about the genre. The problem begins with how the filmmakers choose to interpret and treat the frightening manifestations of the supernatural forces that live beyond human logical thinking. A few jump scares and unusual happenings don’t help. The projection of the ghostly entity as the conventional villain is the first flaw. The entity is not human and not bound by rules that apply to normal humans. There cannot be a hero to challenge it. If at all there has to be one, then the circumstances have to be different from what we find in regular movies. Yes, we have moved on to psychological thrillers and stories drawn from mythology, but the treatment remains more less formulaic, this predictable.

But let’s get down to the history in brief. Movies like Mahal (1949) and Bees Saal Baad (1962) had atmospherics right, but they were never intended to be horror movies. The movies from Ramsay Brothers in the 1970s and beyond were a good attempt at lending the genre purity. Their low-budget movies, about 30 in all, lacked finesse, even were caricaturish, but they certainly introduced us to a truly ghostly world of zombies, werewolves, witches and a few more. Do Gaz Jameen Ke Niche, of 1972, which featured a zombie, was a successful venture. Then there were many more from their stable, Purana Haveli and Veerana of the late 1980s being more notable.

The genre found polish and sophistication with movies like Raaz and Bhoot in the early 2000. Directors Vikram Bhatt and Ram Gopal Varma storytelling was way above the Ramsay Brothers. Movies of the last decade including Stree, Pari, Tumbbad, Pizza and Chhorii were a great progression on innovation and retelling of stories through the idiom of horror. The efforts to deal with this challenging genre has been commendable.

Yet, the wait for that authentic feel eludes us. One reason as mentioned above is the treatment of fearsome supernatural entities as regular villains, the other is the familiarity of the audience with the tropes. Creaking doors, moving shadows, footsteps in the corridor, the haunted mansions, blinking bulbs, the ouiija board and spirit calling rituals – the routine tropes – prepare the audience for what to expect. The shock and surprise factor, the essential requirement for a horror story, goes kaput when filmmakers operate within the world of such tropes. To create an experience beyond these is the real challenge. Most fail.

There’s more CGI to amplify the sense of darkness and horror, and better sound effects, but none of these work too well as the other interests of the story dominate. Stree and Bhool Bhulaiyaa are about laughs than fear. Would the filmmakers try harder? What’s a ghost if it makes you laugh?

(By arrangements with Perspective Bytes)